


You Ought to Know

by friedhotsauce



Series: Words to Middle-Earth [17]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Epic Poetry, F/M, Gen, Headcanon, Poetry, Racism, race-bending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-24
Updated: 2014-04-24
Packaged: 2018-01-20 16:35:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1517567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friedhotsauce/pseuds/friedhotsauce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You looked like her, you just don't remember it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Ought to Know

Legolas Greenleaf                                                            

Thranduilion

I think you ought to know something

Your questioning gaze

Tells me you hadn't before

Young leaf, it distresses me

You have forgotten your

Labyrinth past

Your mother

_Nana lien_

She seems to be but a figment of your imagination

Out of sight, out of mind

Her images have never graced the great corridors of Mirkwood

And never will

So let me tell you Legolas

Let me tell you the famous lore of

_Riel od i Harad_

Princess of the South

 

Born of sand dunes

A sculpture of bronze

A grand carpet of

Wispy clouds of ebony woven into her scalp

Eyes of maple

Turned green

When she began to settle her gaze towards

The north

To Mirkwood

To the silver bark and leaves that makes

Your father

 

They met under a yellow sky

Celestial bodies couldn't keep away

From such a union

Still straight-backed after walking

Sandy and grassy miles

To the edge of homely borders

They whispered promises of eternal love

It would've remained that way

Had things not

Gone the way it did

Your life would be very different

Happier

 

The new queen of Mirkwood was not celebrated

_Riel od i Harad_ was shunned

As if she was a begging leper

Citizens choked on mandatory pleasantries

And called slicing vegetables

'Practice'

Though she sobbed into silks every night

She could not

Would not

Leave

 

Then you arrived

On a bed of dandelion steam

Laughing at everything

Loving everything ten times more

You have your father's eyes and hair

Warm ice

That shines in the sun

Milk from the pearly doe

You had your mother's skin

Had

Meaning, not present anymore

Your maternal people are ashamed of you

 

The citizens sang for you

And still do

The citizens drank to your health

And still do

The citizens fought to bring extinct relics to your feet

And still do

And for the puppy days of your life

They did the same for

_Riel od i Harad_

 

You were still young

Too young to remember the

Trauma

To remember the small rubber rock

That ran across marble and soil alike It fell into the pond by your chambers

Quickly, before the mermaids get to it

You ran under the sun to retrieve it

And bumped into _ada's_ lap

Except it wasn't _ada_

It was a masked serpent

From a dark land where the moon never sets

And everyone is a ghost

 

Horror

Terror

Your body stings

And your eyes scream

You thought the bandit had spilled his drink

Who in Mirkwood would swallow

Poisoned water?

No one, dear prince

Except for your poverty stricken pores

Robbed of their copper charge

And for a winding second

You thought yourself a phantom too

 

The healers fed you water and lard

Your parents warmed you with their tears

The elves of Mirkwood

Prayed for your face

To be released from the bandages

Beautifully

 

Look in the mirror

And what do you see?

Thranduil's son

A beacon of the northern elves

Far fetched aspiration to elves of the south

 

_Nana lien_

How she suffered the days after

She became the next great target

They murmured about during drunken hours

Because how could an oyster

Give life to such a pearl

 

The king loves his queen

And prince

He went mad trying to clean the blood

From his fingernails

And no matter how hard she scrubbed

_Riel od i Harad_

Would end the night in a bed of lye

 

She called for a boat

He called for a procession

Under a purple sun

She kissed the leaves goodbye

And cried currents that would lead her home

Not a tear seized you

Young leaf

You turned your back to the sand-lady

Pointing to where the dark lands lay

_Ada_ had an easier time with blood that moon day

 

Legolas Greenleaf

Thranduilion

Have I said too much?

Face turned to the sea

Back racked with memories

I should stop

"No Please don't

In fact

You haven't said enough"


End file.
